Lend Lease profit rises, shares fall

Lend Lease is developing the Barangaroo site on the western edge of Sydney's CBD.

Barangaroo Delivery Authority

Property developer Lend Lease has reported a significant rise in its half-year profit, boosted by the Barangaroo development in Sydney's CBD.

In the six months to the end of December, the company made a net profit of $302.3 million after tax, on revenue of $6.25 billion.

That is up almost 39 per cent compared to its profit during the same period a year earlier.

Lend Lease says the result has been boosted by earnings from the first two commercial towers at Barangaroo South on the western edge of Sydney's CBD.

The company's Australian division increased its profit by $97 million to $304 million, with Lend Lease also winning work on the proposed new Sydney Convention Centre and Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

The company's Asian division posted a $4.5 million fall in profit to $24.3 million, European profits were up $17.5 million to $60.5 million, American profits were up nearly $8 million to $26 million, while the group services division posted a loss of $80 million.

The company says it will pay an unfranked dividend of 22 cents per share on March 27, with an ex-dividend date of March 4.